The Department of Children and Family Services has received federal approval for a second month of D-SNAP benefits. Emelie Gunn has more…
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The Department of Transportation is getting the message out to Louisiana motorists on how to navigate a roundabout, as the state is introducing these intersections on our roadways. Jeff Palermo has more…
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Secretary of State Tom Schedler has unveiled a new “I Voted” sticker featuring Louisiana’s Blue Dog in an effort to get more people to turn out on November 8. Halen Doughty has more…
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A new taskforce aims to address the epidemic of opioid abuse in Louisiana. Bob Johannessen with the Department of Health says the Commission on Preventing Opioid Abuse was established in the 2016 legislative session, and they just had their first meeting. He says Louisiana has the seventh highest rate of painkiller prescriptions in the country.
Johannessen says the 38-member commission is made up of representatives from medical, law enforcement, and pharmaceutical communities. He says Louisiana has also received more than $2 million in federal dollars to assist with this effort.
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Johannessen says the goal of the commission is to have recommendations ready for the legislature by February. He says they will look at how to improve communications between one physician and another to avoid over prescribing, as well as potential policies to address the issue.
Johannessen says patients who are over prescribed these medications often build up a tolerance, which leads to addiction.
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The Department of Children and Family Services has received federal approval for a second month of disaster food assistance for the 11 parishes most heavily impacted by the August flooding. DCFS Secretary Marketa Garner Walters says anyone who received aid last month will automatically have their card reloaded this month. She says recipients will have benefits loaded no later than October 18th.
Garner Walters says there is a history of getting additional aid from their federal partners after really big disasters, but typically not this many parishes are included. There were originally 22 parishes covered for the first round of D-SNAP benefits.
Garner Walters says these disaster food stamps have really been a life saver for some families who lost everything in the floods. She says they are just trying to help people in any way they can during this difficult recovery process.
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The Louisiana Department of Transportation has launched a campaign to promote roundabout safety tips. DOTD Spokesperson Rodney Mallett says roundabouts are a one-way circular intersection that are designed to improve safety and efficiency. He says typically in the months following the installation of a roundabout, they receive a lot of positive feedback from motorists.
DOTD has instated about 30 roundabouts and 100 more have been proposed. Mallett says motorists slow down, but don’t stop when entering a roundabout so it helps with congestion. He says this type of intersection is also much safer than a stop light.
Mallett says the key to navigating roundabouts is to slow down, yield to traffic, proceed right, and follow signs. Roundabouts are found to reduce traffic related fatalities by 90-percent and injury crashes by 76-percent.
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The Secretary of State’s Office has come up with a creative way to get more people to vote in the November 8th election. Secretary of State Tom Schedler unveiled a new “I Voted” sticker featuring Louisiana’s own Blue Dog by artist George Rodrigue. He says Louisiana has not had “I Voted” stickers for several years because of cost, and this is a great way to bring them back.
The sticker features the iconic Blue Dog in front of an American flag with the words “I Voted” across the top. The late artist’s wife, Wendy Rodrigue, says they wanted to get involved and they searched within what George had already designed. She says they found that he left them the solution within his art.
Rodrigue’s son Jacques Rodrigue says the piece was released at the New Orleans Museum of Art. He says it’s also on display in an exhibit called “Blue Dog for President” at their gallery in New Orleans. Schedler says they have distributed 4 million stickers to precincts throughout the state, and everyone who votes will get a sticker, even early voters.
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The postponement of the LSU-Florida game has many Tiger fans frustrated, but head coach Ed Orgeron says it was a productive “off” weekend for the football team. Orgeron says they got some good work in on the practice field and then hit the recruiting trail…
Orgeron says they also used the unexpected bye weekend to self scout their own players and team…
Quarterback Danny Etling says it’s disappointing they couldn’t play Florida, but they can’t get distracted with all the talk about making the game up at a later date…
Senior center Ethan Pocic says they are getting ready to play Southern Miss on Saturday and letting others figure out the schedule…